


room for one more troubled soul

by foreverfangirlwrites



Series: How We Could Have Met [18]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Atmospheric, Character Growth, Cute, F/M, First Meetings, Introspection, Kinda, Slice of Life, Summer Lovin', also the elusive Stoll brothers, and leo being cool, annabeth is sunshine, anti-littering, feat. grover caring about the enviornment, home depot except hephaestus runs it, like small town vibes, percy is lone boi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:21:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24951493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foreverfangirlwrites/pseuds/foreverfangirlwrites
Summary: He was lonely. He is lonely. And he feels like he will always be lonely. Well, maybe. That’s the question. He finds that he has a lot of questions.The Lonely Boy With A Lot Of Questions. It could be a title of a poem, or one of those short stories where something supernatural happens to the protagonist. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), nothing supernatural is happening.Where Percy doesn't have answers but finds the absence of loneliness anyway.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Series: How We Could Have Met [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1256003
Comments: 10
Kudos: 59





	room for one more troubled soul

He was lonely. He is lonely. And he feels like he will always be lonely. Well, maybe. That's the question. He finds that he has a lot of questions.

The Lonely Boy With A Lot Of Questions. It could be a title of a poem, or one of those short stories where something supernatural happens to the protagonist. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately), nothing supernatural is happening.

Nothing much ever happens around here anyway. He wonders if maybe that's why he's lonely, if maybe he left he'd be less so. But where would he leave to? More questions.

Amongst the grey skies, broken fence and overgrown lawn, the loneliness is just another constant. It's so ingrained at this point he's not sure if it's an ailment or just his state of being. He wonders if it'll ever go away. Yet another question.

Sighing, he walks along the sidewalk until he reaches the broken bit of fence, hops over it, and strides across a patch of overgrown lawn to the twisted tree at the edge of the small wooded grove dubbed simply The Woods. He stares at the twisted trunk waiting for Grover and wonders, yet again, what kind of tree it is.

Too many questions, and never any answers.

"Percy! Sorry I'm late!" The voice causes him to turn around and he sees Grover limping over to him as fast as he can brandishing a trowel.

"I was getting some wildflower seeds to plant, the ones that are native to the area. You know that small patch already there has gotten smaller ever since the Stoll brothers…"

He nods along as his friend chatters on leading them through the first patch of trees to the small wildflower clearing. Upon reaching it, Grover gets to his knees and starts digging up some small holes with his trowel and Percy not knowing what to do, hangs back by the path.

Plants and stuff were Grover's specialty and he always made an effort to preserve The Woods, no small feat since at some point everyone came through here: kids on dares, couples who want alone time, college kids with beer cans at night. He thinks that he and Grover might be the only people who come here to plant things. Well Grover does, Percy just keeps him company.

It makes him feel a little less lonely.

"Decided on your major yet?" Grover asks as he drops some seeds into the holes he's dug.

"Not really," he responds kicking a pebble on the ground, "don't know what I want to do."

"Well you still got time, you got your gen-eds to complete." Grover glances over and opens his mouth as if to add something else but closes it, turning back to his seeds.

Percy wonders what it would have been. He looks down at the pebble and decides to grind it into the dirt instead. It sinks in deep enough for the smooth top to be flush with the Earth, but much like his community college endeavors, it doesn't go away.

Grover stands up and walks back to inspect the row of upturned dirt where the seeds have been planted.

"They'll catch on pretty quickly and soon the entire place will be filled with them again." Grover smiles happily, wiping his hands on his already mud stained jeans. Percy nods, eyes flitting over the wild grass and small flowers behind the freshly planted seeds and thinks that it'll take forever for them to grow that tall.

Then again, every day feels like forever around here.

They walk along the path to the small pond, only full of water because of the rain from a few days ago.

"How's your swimming coming along?" Grover asks as they pause at the edge next to a worn down bench and a crushed Pepsi can.

Frowning, Grover picks it up as Percy shrugs. "Haven't been to the pool in a while."

Grover's frown deepens at the words. "Why not?"

Percy shrugs again. Every time he had gone lately there had been a large group of guys taking up half the space and being loud. He didn't know who they were but their constant shouts and splashing was annoying enough to keep Percy away.

"But you love to swim," Grover continues, still frowning as they walk away from the pond.

It's true that he feels the most comfortable in the water, the only place where his loneliness feels…purposeful.

He shrugs for the third time as the come to a stop at the most densely packed patch of trees. A popular place shown by the assortment of candy wrappers, cans, random clothes and the red cap that had hung from a branch for as long as anyone could remember.

As usual, he wonders who's it is, but pushes the question as he helps Grover pick up a few candy wrappers and cans. They march through the woods appearing at the other side hitting the small two-lane road often devoid of cars. Quickly jaywalking across to the strip mall they come to the stop at the trashcan outside Cali's where they throw away what they've collected.

"People need to stop littering," Grover grumbles the entire way, "it's so bad for the environment and…"

Percy's heard the rant before, and as much as he agrees with Grover's saying, he doesn't know what he can do about it.

They walk into Cali's, the only true gem of the town, where Leo waves them over. Taking their seats by the counter, Leo, who had been in his graduating class, turns towards the slushie machine.

"The usual?" he asks over his shoulder, already getting two cups.

They nod and within a minute Leo has two slushies in front of them.

"How's it going guys?" he asks with his usual bright smile.

"Good, planted some wildflowers today," Grover responds, taking a sip of the slushie.

Leo nods, watching the kids at a nearby table as he responds. "Nice, after that stunt with the Stolls…" he trails off as one of the kids, in an attempt to swat his friend, knocks over his slushie and the sludgy red liquid gets everywhere.

With an annoyed sigh, Leo leaves them and hurries over the booth. Percy looks down at his own blue slushie and wonders if the red one's any good. Probably not, blue is always better.

"That sucks," Grover comments watching Leo yell at the kids as he wipes up the remnants of the slushie. "Leo has enough on his plate already."

Percy wonders what he means and how Grover would know and leaves the questions in favor of taking another sip of his slushie. "That's the Stoll's cousins or something right?"

Grover turns to him in surprise. "How do you know that?"

While the surprise isn't unwarranted he shrinks into himself a little at Grover's stare. "Mom mentioned that the Stolls had some cousins or something visiting her candy shop earlier," he mumbles, looking down. That and the resemblance is pretty apparent.

Grover nods, turning back towards the kids. "Yeah, they're visiting alright, and are just as much of a menace as Travis and Connor."

Leo walks back over to them, the red finally gone, his forehead creasing as he sighs. "They're a nightmare."

"You should kick them out," Grover advises.

Leo shakes his head. "Paying guests, Cali would be mad if I did."

"How is she?"

"Good, she's got an old friend coming over for the summer so she's driven to the airport to get her. Actually," he checks his watch, "they should be getting here soon."

Percy is wondering why anyone would actually _want_ to come visit this place where nothing much ever happens, when the bell above the door rings.

As if in answer to the unasked question in his head he turns around to see two girls walk in. One he recognizes as Cali, with long caramel colored hair and the other, a girl around his age with wavy blonde hair and sharp grey eyes that pierce into him the moment they make eye contact.

Percy whips back around to his blue slushie as Leo walks out from behind the counter to greet his girlfriend with a peck on the cheek.

"Annabeth! It's so good to finally meet you!" He hears Leo say as he calms himself from the jolt. It's the most anything he's felt in a very long time and the image of the sharp grey eyes really _looking_ at him doesn't leave his mind. He's never been so… _seen_.

As the three walk back to the counter Percy decides to focus all his attention on his slushie and only looks up at the sound of his name when Cali introduces everyone.

"And this is Percy, you're actually staying a block away from him."

What? A block away was old Mrs. Figg's house, why was she…

"Mrs. Figg is letting me stay in one of her rooms while I visit," Annabeth explains in answer to his unasked question. "I tried to pay her but she says the company of someone young is payment enough. Though," she turns towards Cali, "I think it's mostly cause she remembers my dad."

The answer brings up even more question and Percy just nods as Cali and Annabeth continue to chat. Grover and Leo have managed to become part of the conversation and looking at all of them talking and laughing brings back the familiar pang of loneliness. He gazes down at the last remnants of blue in his cup to distract himself.

"Percy! Could you walk Annabeth to Mrs. Figg's place? I need to get ready for the evening rush," Cali asks, once again causing his neck to snap up.

"Sure," he replies, standing up to throw away his cup. He can see their eyes on him as he shuffles back and feels himself shrink in even more. Not meeting her eyes, he turns towards Annabeth, "You ready?"

She nods and waves to everyone as the two step out into the summer heat. She has a small rolling suitcase and a hefty backpack that he offers to shoulder but she declines. They walk across the strip mall, Annabeth looking at everything with a baffling level of interest and he wonders what about the laundromat is so interesting.

"It's so crazy being back here, I don't remember much and I'm sure things have changed anyway but…"she trails off looking with all too much intrigue at the hardware store.

He wonders what she means, and when she was here last, if it had been a visit or—

"I was born here," she says, interrupting and answering his questions, "but we moved away when I was six and I haven't been back since."

When he looks over at her, she's giving him that same piercing look again this time head titled to the side as if she's trying to figure something out. He looks away.

"Cool," he says in response to her explanation, mostly because he can still feel her eyes on him.

He wonders why she moved away but stays quiet as they walk past the broken bit of fence.

"You don't talk much do you?" she comments lightly. He shrugs.

"Why not?" she persists and he's completely taken aback. Not only has no one ever asked him that, he himself had never thought much about it and this random girl had just thrust it in his face.

"Guess I don't have much to say," he replies after a beat of silence.

The fencing stops abruptly as they hit the fenceless yard of Mrs. Figg.

"Really?" she says in a tone that sounds more like she's taking to herself than him, "it seems like you do have things to say, but," she pauses to look at him, "you hold them back."

He stops abruptly at the steps to the porch and stares at her. Her sharp grey eyes analyze him for a second more before she picks up her suitcase and climbs the porch steps to ring the doorbell.

"Thanks for walking me," she calls back with a smile as the door opens and Mrs. Figg ushers her in.

Percy's left standing on the foot of the steps with his mouth slightly open, feeling the jolt that accompanies the thunder in her eyes.

-.-

At least summer means he doesn't have classes. Or much of anything else. So when he wakes up at noon to the first bits of sunshine all week, he just lays in bed staring up the single glow-in-the-dark star (that doesn't even glow anymore) left over from when he was kid, stuck to his ceiling.

It's another one of those constants, along with the pile of pamphlets at the edge of his desk detailing different collegiate programs he could apply for and the hinge on his bedroom door that always squeaks and, of course, the loneliness.

He sits up in bed, staring across the overgrown lawn where he can see the twisted tree at the edge of The Woods. Curiously, instead of seeing the scraggly head of his friend he sees wavy blonde hair. He gets up and walks to the window to make sure he's not imagining it.

What is she doing over there? For some reason instead of pushing the question aside he gets dressed, brushes his teeth and walks out the side door towards the twisted tree.

Annabeth is examining the tree but looks over as he approaches, breaking out into a smile. "Hey Percy!"

"Hey." He nods back as she turns back to her examination.

"So what do you think?" she asks, coming over to stand beside him, "what kind of tree is it?"

It's the same question he's asked himself many times but he doesn't have the answer. He never has the answers.

He shrugs and wonders what she's doing here. He catches her eye and is about to look away when she cuts him off.

"Grover said he'd show me around," she tilts her head to the side again, "that's what you were going to ask wasn't it?"

Well he wasn't going to ask but it had been the question in his head. Before he can respond, she continues, "you know you can just ask me."

Luckily Grover chooses that moment to arrive saving him from coming up with a response because he has no idea how to address _that._

"Hey Annabeth! Percy!" Grover's carrying a big bottle of water this time, heaving it under his arm as he hurries towards them.

"Hey!" Annabeth replies with a wave, "I was wondering, do you know what kind of tree this is?"

Grover smiles. "Oh yeah, it's oak, you can tell by the scaly ridges on the bark and the leaves are longer than they are wide…"

And the two walk into the woods with Grover still talking about the tree but Percy doesn't move from his spot.

All this time he had wondered what kind of tree it was and all this time Grover had known.

Still trying to wrap his head around this, he quickly follows them into the woods, stopping by the patch of wildflowers that Grover is currently watering with his huge bottle.

"I planted the seeds yesterday," he explains to an inquisitive Annabeth.

"Need any help with that?" she asks, walking closer and Percy frowns at the action. She's breaking their rhythm.

"Nah, I got this," Grover replies shifting the bottle to the other side and Percy can't help but smile a bit at the answer.

"You know a lot about nature, are you studying biology?" Annabeth asks as she steps back by Percy, both of them watching Grover.

"Yeah, or planning on it at least, going to apply to Guverner's next year."

Grover was going to apply to Guverner's? He hadn't known that, why—

An image of Grover kneeling in front of upturned soil opening his mouth to say something flashes through his mind.

But his thoughts are once again cut off by Annabeth turning towards him. "What about you Percy?"

Of course, the question was bound to come up. Looking down at the small scattering of pebbles on the ground, he finds the one he had dug in yesterday. "I don't know," he mumbles.

"Percy hasn't decided what he's going to do after his associates," Grover explains for him. For some reason his cheeks heat up at the words and he digs the soles of his shoes deeper in the soil.

"That's fair," he hears Annabeth reply, "I couldn't decide between math and chemistry for a long time."

"What did you choose?" Grover asks, walking back towards them having finished his watering.

"Both," she laughs, "math minor."

Grover laughs along as the three continue the walk towards the small pond.

"This place is so cool!" Annabeth says with such enthusiasm that he actually looks around to see if anything about the overgrown pond with little water is cool.

"A lot of good insect life for the ecosystem," Grover says nodding.

There's no litter pick up this time and as they walk on Percy can't help but think of the conversation he had with Grover about swimming.

Maybe it's the presence of yet another person that adds to his loneliness, but he feels the pull of the pool even stronger than before.

They reach the little clearing right before the densely packed trees to find more wrappers and cans littering the ground and of course, the red cap hanging from the branch.

"What's with the cap?" Annabeth asks, looking at it in the same curious manner as if it's another problem she can analyze.

Grover shrugs. "Don't know for sure, but rumor has that it belonged to Mr. D, the old mayor, back in the day.

For the umpteenth time that day Percy was left standing in shock. When did that rumor go around? How come he hadn't known? And if Grover knew why hadn't he told him!

The last sentiment caused enough bitterness for Percy to actually speak out. "I've never heard this rumor."

The accusatory tone doesn't quite leave his voice and Grover and Annabeth both turn to look at him in surprise.

"Oh well," Grover starts, casting a look at Percy, "the Stolls started it last year and so it's probably not true anyway…" He trails off awkwardly and bends down to pick up a can off the ground.

Annabeth also bends down to pick up some of the litter and Percy, still annoyed and ready to prove a point, picks up all the candy wrappers.

"It's such a shame," Annabeth says, breaking the silence as she picks up another can.

"Right! I wish people would stop littering," Grover agrees and Percy's frown deepens. He's against littering too.

It's just one of those things, those constants, like jaywalking across the street, throwing it away at the trashcan in front of Cali's and the pang of loneliness he feels as Grover ad Annabeth open the door to the diner, one step ahead of him.

They take their seats as usual, Percy displaced by one as Annabeth sits in the middle and Leo walks over with a smile.

"Annabeth! How are the boys treating you, seen all the sights yet?"

"Just paid respects to the red cap in the woods."

Leo grins. "Good, it brings good luck you know."

Still slightly peeved, Percy wonders if Leo's just saying that or if it's a part of that supposed rumor the Stolls had spread around.

Leo slides Grover and Percy their usual blue slushies and asks Annabeth what flavor she wants. Percy makes a small face as she orders the red.

"What do you have against red?" she asks curiously, obviously noticing the expression on his face.

"It's not better than blue."

"Have you tried it?" she counters.

And that's when Percy decides, as Grover and Leo burst out laughing, that she's too smart, too inquisitive (though some, he, would call it nosy) and too much for him to handle.

The pang of loneliness grows as he sucks his slushie so fast he actually gets brain freeze.

Holding is head in his hands for a second, Annabeth (of course) once again starts to speak. "Oh I have a great trick for—"

He stands up, drops a few bills and walks out before he has to hear the rest.

-.-

Percy's staring at the lone glow-in-the-dark star on his ceiling the next morning feeling all to much like he understands it when there's a knock on his door.

Thinking it's probably his mom, stopping by before she leaves for work, he calls out, "yeah?"

The door squeaks open and he turns his head to find not the smiling warm face of his mother but the sheepish apologetic face of Annabeth. He quickly sits up, eyes wide, the last person he would have expected to show up in his room.

"Hi," she says quietly from her place at the door, "can I come in? I just want to apologize."

Wordlessly, he nods his head as she gingerly walks in as if she's afraid of breaking something.

"I just want to say sorry," she begins right away, "I obviously upset you yesterday and I didn't mean to—"

This time he cuts her off. "It's okay."

She bites her lips, eyebrows drawn together. "Are you sure?"

And looking at her, hovering anxiously by his desk by that large stack of pamphlets, clearly distressed, he can't find it in himself to be mad.

He's not entirely sure he was even mad in the first place. He was just lonely. He is just lonely.

Sighing, he nods. "Yeah, it's okay."

She nods back, shoulders slumping a little in relief. "Okay, um, good-" she breaks off and he sees a spark of something he hadn't seen before in her eyes. Then they slide down to his uncovered torso before snapping to the window in his room.

He's not sure who's more flushed, him or Annabeth upon realizing he's not wearing a shirt.

"You've got a nice view," she comments, walking over to the window, giving him the space to pull on a shirt.

Though he wonders if the movement caught in his peripherals was her turning just slightly to look towards him.

"Sure, if you call an overgrown lawn a view," he says, mostly to cover up his embarrassment.

Annabeth turns back towards him, the curious look back in her eyes.

"Listen Percy —" she breaks off, biting her bottom lip, something clearly still on her mind.

He wonders why he looked at her lips.

"I know I don't know you and it probably isn't my place, and you're probably just a quiet person, but it seemed to me that maybe…" she breaks off again, clearly nervous about what she's about to say, "maybe you were a little lonely yesterday?"

"I'm sorry if I'm misinterpreting, I don't mean to hurt you or anything," she rushes to explain when he widens his eyes, "I just…" she takes a deeps breath.

"Friends?" she asks, holding out her hand.

His mind is racing with thoughts and questions and his heart is racing, whether from anger at being called out or from how genuinely nice she looks with her hand stretched out, he doesn't know.

He waits a second too long and she starts to withdraw her hand, eyes turned downward and something in him causes him to quickly seize it.

That jolt that he associates with Annabeth runs through him again as she looks up, grey eyes hopeful, and he thinks it's not so bad after all.

"Friends."

-.-

Being friends with Annabeth entailed a lot of questions.

"Who broke the fence?" she asks as they make their way to the twisted oak tree.

And all those questions required him to answer.

"The Stolls zoomed through here on dirt bikes, broke this part of the fence and took out some wildflowers, which is why Grover is replanting."

"The Stolls seem to cause a lot of trouble around here."

Percy thinks that's an understatement but stays silent as he watches her take everything in, even the broken fence, with such interest that he just does not understand. There's really nothing much to see here. There never is.

Grover reaches the tree shortly afterward, not carrying anything this time, but they still stop at the wildflowers so he can inspect them.

"Percy told me why you planted them," Annabeth says as she watches Grover , "it's really col that you're preserving plant life here."

Grover smiles as he walks back to them. "Thanks, it's kind of a passion project."

They stop by the small pond and Grover picks up a gum wrapper that they might have missed yesterday given the amount of dirt on it.

"Now, if only people would stop littering." Grover sighs.

Percy looks over the pond and thinks of the pool, about how much he wants to go.

"What are you thinking about Percy?" Annabeth asks, looking up at him. Her grey eyes are just as curious but there's a tentativeness there that he had seen earlier in his room.

Friends. Friends can ask questions and friends should give answers.

"The pool," he says quietly, relenting to the part of him that is tired of holding things in. "I haven't been in a long time."

"Percy's a fantastic swimmer," Grover adds, looking at Percy with wide eyes, clearly taken back at his answer.

"Oooh! I'd love to go to the pool, could I come with you?" Annabeth asks.

The part of him that is so used to shutting people out surges up and he almost instinctively looks down at the ground. But the handshake from earlier hasn't quite left his mind.

"Yeah sure," he mumbles, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Awesome!" She shoots him a wide smile as the three turn to walk onwards and though he trails a step behind the other two he can't stop the ghost of a smile that appears on his face.

There's still more litter, there always is since they can never quite clear out everything each day, and every night brings more.

Annabeth frowns, deep in thought the entire time they pick up trash and speaks right as they're in the middle of jaywalking. "I have an idea."

It's a bold enough declaration that they almost stop in the middle of the road to hear it. But Annabeth doesn't expand until they step inside Cali's where she makes a beeline for Leo and talks to him in a hushed voice.

"What do you think she's doing?" Grover asks. Percy, who had been wondering that himself and finds it strange that someone else articulated his question exactly, simply shakes his head.

Annabeth walks over to them a moment later with a piece of paper, a sharpie, and some tape. Bending over she begins to write something he can't read on the paper with sharpie.

He can see Grover leaning to try to look but the angle makes it impossible so the two just sit there until Leo returns with something he can't quite see and hands it to Annabeth in exchange for the sharpie.

"Coming?" she asks over her shoulder, the paper and whatever Leo handed her in her pocket as she walks back out the doors.

Completely baffled by this change of pace, Percy and Grover hop off their seats and follow her back through the front door.

They jaywalk across the road, go through the trees, stopping at the little clearing at the edge, when Annabeth finally turns towards them. "Can you guys help me find a big stick?"

Percy generally has a lot of questions but with a glance at Grover he suspects he's not the only one. Nevertheless, they both start looking around until they finally find a decently hefty branch that's fallen.

"Here, we need to dig it into the ground, upright," Annabeth says.

And with a fair amount of heaving, slight digging, and sweat they manage to stand it upright on the ground.

Annabeth pulls a strip of plastic from her pocket and opens it up to reveal it's actually a trash bag. This she ties around the stick, leaving it open so people can drop things in. Then she pulls out the paper and the duct tape she had slung around her arm, and tapes the paper to the stick.

She steps away and finally they read it: PLEASE DON'T LITTER written in bold neat handwriting.

"There," she says with a grim sort of smile, "let's see if that does anything."

Grover, who hasn't said a word this entire time breaks out into a grin. "Annabeth, you're a genius, I don't know why I never thought of this!"

Annabeth flushes a little. "It's nothing, it could not work at all, but it's something at least."

Percy has to agree with Grover but he can't really get himself to say it so he settles for a smile.

With a renewed vigor the three scrounge around and pick up all the litter around the area, throwing it into their makeshift trash can.

"Maybe if people see that other people have thrown things away, they'll be more likely to also do it," Annabeth says as they walk across the road back to the diner.

Percy has gotten slushies at Cali's nearly every day this summer so far but they had never felt this refreshing or tasted this sweet.

He finds himself grinning for the first time in a while, the look mimicked on Grover and Annabeth's faces as well.

The feeling continues when he's laying in bed later that night staring at the star on his ceiling. He can't really find himself in it anymore and with a sudden burst of energy he stands up, rips it from the ceiling and throws it in the trash.

It's a start.

-.-

He finds Annabeth, Grover, and even more surprisingly, Leo at the sidewalk by the broken fence.

Annabeth waves as he walks over and it's a strange enough sight that it actually forces the words out of his mouth.

"What's going on?"

"I've been thinking, the rest of the fence isn't bad, it's just this little broken bit here. I bet we can fix it up," Annabeth says, surveying the broken planks.

Percy turns towards Grover who gives a sheepish shrug and Leo, who looks pretty excited about the whole thing.

Annabeth turns back towards him, her sharp grey eyes digging into his. "What do you think?"

It's an invitation as much of a question and as he sees Grover and Leo turn towards him as well, waiting for an answer. He feels an unfamiliar pang in his heart, one that makes him smile.

"Yeah."

That one word sets the whole crew in motion, Leo approaching it first, pulling a tape measure out his bag, and getting to work. Annabeth and Grover, meanwhile, pick up the broken pieces and set off towards the trashcan.

Realizing that he's left with Leo, he awkwardly asks if he can help.

"Nah, I'm good, just measurements now," Leo responds. "Though," he adds after a quick curious look at Percy, "if you want to note them down that would be good."

So Percy pulls out his phone a dutifully notes down the numbers that Leo rattles out loud.

In the next fifteen minutes, the measurements are done, the broken pieces cleared away, and the groups of four troop towards Heph's Hardware.

Percy's only been here a few times before but Leo seems to know it like the back of his hand, leading them quickly through the aisles, finding everything they need.

"How do you know this place so well?" Annabeth asks, speaking into existence Percy's own question. It strikes him that he can't be all that alone in his thoughts if other people also ask the same kind of things.

Or maybe it's just Annabeth.

"Oh, I love building things, I'm actually renovating my house right now with my mom," at Annabeth's impressed stare he ducks his head with a small smile, "I mean it's a lot of work but it's fun."

"Grover's stopped by to help with landscaping," Leo adds, still smiling shyly in an effort to take the attention off of him.

The image of Leo wiping red liquid from the tables and Grover's words come to mind. _He has a lot on his plate already…_

"They're almost done," Grover adds.

Leo nods. "Yeah, just small touches that my mom's finishing up." He looks around the aisles. "It's nice to be in here for a project that isn't my house."

They separate when Leo goes to get the wood cut since he knows what he's doing, and Grover, Annabeth and Percy head to the paint.

"I think it's closer to this shade of white," Grover says looking at the plethora of whites to choose from.

Annabeth just shrugs. "You guys know it better than me." She turns to Percy, "what do you think?"

Percy can't honestly tell and frowns over the paint strips with Grover.

"I have no idea," he says finally, "It's probably the one Grover said."

Dropping back so Annabeth can see it, his eyes skim over the various paint colors until one directly above Annabeth's head catches his eye.

A perfect shade of light blue that looks amazing against Annabeth's blonde hair.

He physically shakes his head, not knowing why those thoughts had entered his mind. He moves towards the paint strip and picks it up.

"Guys," he says quietly, but both heads turn to him right away, rapt with attention. He can't help but smile again as that unfamiliar pang returns.

"What about this?" He holds out the light blue. Annabeth immediately declares she loves it with a smile that makes Percy feel surprisingly happy and Grover nods appreciatively.

"What's the hold up everybody?" Leo asks, walking towards them with the cut planks of wood.

"What do you think of this color, Percy picked it out," Annabeth asks, holding up the paint strip.

Leo smiles. "It's great, I say let's go for it!"

And so with light blue paint, planks and all the nails they could need, they march back towards the broken fence and get to work.

"Thanks for helping with this on your day off Leo," Percy says quietly as he holds a piece that Leo's hammering in.

Leo just smiles. "No worries dude, I'm happy to help and I won't complain about spending time with friends."

And as Leo drives the nail in, the unfamiliar pang in his chest rings for the third time that day making him smile so wide his cheeks hurt.

They finish in the afternoon, exhausted, and traipse to Percy's house for some cold lemonade and cookies his mom had baked a few night ago.

After the heat of the summer sun and all the work they did, the cold lemonade feels like an oasis, and when he brings out the cookies Grover and Leo dig in.

Annabeth, however, holds one up curiously. "Um, why is this blue?"

He finds himself grinning. "I told you, blue is always better." And as he watches her face morph into a smile as she takes a bite, the corner of his eyes catches the bit of blue fence out the window and thinks that there had never been a truer statement.

-.-

Percy wakes to a bare ceiling and a smile on his face. Instead of laying there, he gets up and walks towards the window. The bright light blue of the not-broken fence immediately catches his gaze.

The smile persists as he gets ready and steps into the overgrown lawn, making his way to the tree before realizing for the first time since summer started he's gotten up before noon and Annabeth and Grover won't be here for another few hours.

With the sudden time on his hands, he's left unsure of what to do. Leaning back against the twisted oak, his eyes once again find the blue bit of fence. He had always viewed it as a constant, one of those things that would always lie broken on the wayside.

Yet now it stands, blue and fixed and any part of him that would have been bothered by the change is extinguished by the sheer amount of fun he had had that day with his friends.

Staring at the lawn, he thinks of Leo's renovation, Grover's landscaping, and himself, that he might be heard if he chose to speak.

Filled with that sudden burst of motivation that had filled him that night he had taken down the star, he stands up and thinks that the fence would look nicer if the grass wasn't as tall.

Never had he really thought to mow the lawn and his mother had never really forced it upon him besides the occasional comment. Now, however, all he can think about was the smile on Annabeth's face when she'd show up and see the lawn freshly mowed.

He hasn't started the lawn more in forever and it takes him a good twenty minutes to figure it all out (where he almost gives up but Annabeth's excitement keeps him going). Once it's started however, it takes another hour and half to get through the entire lawn. It's not that big but it's slow going and hard work but something about the pull of his muscles feels satisfying.

So when Grover walks up, holding another large bottle of water, he's exhausted but smiling nonetheless.

It's worth it just for Grover's reaction. His jaw actually drops.

"You…mowed the lawn," Grover says, still astonished.

"Yep."

"It looks really good Perce!"

The unfamiliar pang in his chest grows that the words.

"Thanks!"

Grover takes one last look at the lawn, shaking his head in disbelief before turning and walking towards the woods.

"Wait, what about Annabeth?" The question slips out.

"Oh, it's Cali's day off so they're hanging out," Grover calls back.

All the excitement and happiness drain out of him. Annabeth wasn't coming today? He had mowed the lawn for her, and she wouldn't even see it? She already hung out with Cali on the evening and nights, why did she need to take the day too?

His muscles suddenly feel sore and tired and as he trudges after Grover into the woods he feels a hint of anger surfacing.

Annabeth hadn't told him she wasn't coming today, why hadn't see explained? He'd done all this work…

But even as the thoughts come, he knows she's done nothing wrong and it's just him shocked and upset at the news. The knowledge that she's innocent doesn't help and just serves to make him more annoyed, now mostly at himself.

He gets to the wildflowers that Grover's already mostly done watering and grinds more pebbles into the ground.

"They're coming along," Grover said happily, smile fading when he sees Percy's frown.

"What's up?"

This is the part where he would shrug his shoulders and look down, but the emotions are running high and he can't help himself.

"She didn't tell me she wasn't coming."

Surprisingly, Grover smiles at his outburst. "I'm sure she had a good reason, or maybe she forgot, or maybe," he adds, glancing towards Percy as they walk, "she thought that you had seen enough of her and wouldn't mind a break."

"Well that's a dumb thought to have," he mutters angrily.

There's no litter by the pond and Grover shrugs. "Well I don't know, I'm just guessing. She hasn't told me so how could I know?"

He leaves the words in the air and Percy's frustration melts away as he takes in the meaning behind them. They get towards the dense trees in silence where the red cap itself serves as a reminder of Grover's words.

"Looks like the trash bag is working!" Grover exclaims looking at the slightly fuller bag, and significantly less litter on the floor. They pick up the small remainder and throw it in their makeshift trash can before crossing the road to the strip mall.

"Hey guys!" Leo calls out happily as they walk in. "Guess what? My house is done!"

"Congrats!" Grover beams and even Percy can't help but smile at the news.

"Yeah! I'll be throwing a party soon so be on the lookout for that invite," Leo says, handing them their slushies.

And as Grover and Leo talk about Annabeth's litter solution in The Woods he finds his thoughts drifting towards the girl herself. She'd only been in his life for two weeks yet she had changed it dramatically, slowly but surely erasing away things he had always considered constants.

She had even managed to do the impossible and stop littering.

He might not like to admit it but he was grumpy today, not because of anything she did, but because he just genuinely missed her. Missed her laugh and bold ideas and the way she looked at him when she asked him a question.

He tenses up mid-sip.

It's so subtle that Grover and Leo don't notice anything but all of a sudden his heart is beating way too fast and it's not brain freeze causing this feeling.

Was he falling for Annabeth?

-.-

He's a mixture of grumpy and nervous and something else he can't quite place and it's the exact combination of things that allow him to be just annoyed enough to heatedly spray some WD-40 on his door hinges.

When he strides across the neat lawn towards the blue fence and twisted tree, he's still frowning. The expression only changes after he sees Annabeth running towards him with her blonde hair flying back wearing a blue shirt that looks just as good on her as he had thought it would.

"Percy! The lawn! It looks amazing!"

And he forgets to be mad, allowing a small smile as he rubs the back of his neck. "Thanks."

She smiles back then steps forward almost hesitantly. "What'd you get up to yesterday, I mean besides the lawn?"

He shrugs, the sting of his feelings returning. "Nothing," he mutters, looking down at the ground.

He feels soft hands pull his chin up. "Percy, what's wrong?" They're standing pretty close and he can still feel the softness of her hand on his chin even though she's dropped it. Annabeth's looking at him with concern in the normally sharp grey eyes.

He shakes his head and she frowns, refusing to take his answer. "Percy?"

Heat beating so fast, he hopes Annabeth can't hear his nervousness. "Where were you yesterday?" he mumbles, hoping it's enough of an answer.

Annabeth lets out a small smile. "Hanging out with Cali, Leo unexpectedly took her shift as a surprise, so we hung out."

He nods, looking anywhere but her and thinks that it's probably pathetic to say that he missed her.

"But," she adds softly, moving even closer so they're only an inch a part. "I missed you."

Once again, Annabeth knack for saying things he's thinking leaves him speechless. "Yeah, me too," he finally manages gruffly.

She's so close and he desperately wonders how it would be if he just leaned down and kissed her, but he holds himself back.

"How about we hang out today?" she asks, "you and me, you said you wanted to go to the pool…" she trails off.

He picks the bait with a small smile. "Yeah, that sounds good."

-.-

It was not good. It was the farthest from good. Not only are that large group of guys over, being loud and hogging up the pool, but when Annabeth walks out in a bikini Percy almost drowns in the three-foot deep water he's standing in.

"Annabeth," he chokes as she slips into the water next to him.

"Hmm?" She turns towards him smiling innocently enough but one look into her eyes indicates that she knows exactly what she's doing. The same spark that had been there the day she had come to his bedroom with an apology and a hand of friendship and had seen him shirtless.

Well, two can play at this game.

Percy, as his mother often told him, was born for the water, and at once he takes off across the pool in a powerful breaststroke.

Being back in the water is just as amazing as he had imagined, and he glides easily though the pool, testing out different strokes and completely forgetting he was supposed to be showing off.

Nevertheless, when he appears by Annabeth again it's clear he's had the desired effect given by the way she looked at him when he had stepped into view.

She clears her throat. "Not bad."

He raises an eyebrow. Maybe it's the rush of adrenaline that swimming always brings out that causes him to say what he does next. "I'd say that was better than not bad."

She smiles and steps so close to him that their bare legs brush under the water and they're a centimeters away from skin to skin contact. Any image he had hoped to maintain dissolves rapidly as she smiles wickedly up at him in a way that makes his stomach drop.

"Yeah," she whispers, "it was alright."

And then she splashes him right in the face leaving him shocked and blinking water from his eyes, ready for revenge. Annabeth squeals as he dives after her.

So what if the splashing was a poor excuse to get close and brush arms and shoulders and get closer to one another? They're both grinning when they finally call truce, faces flushed from more than just the splashing.

"You are quite a worthy opponent," he tells her.

"You're not so bad yourself," she says, smiling wide.

Her grey eyes are warm and light and he can feel himself drowning into their depths.

They get closer and closer when suddenly their moment is interrupted by a large cheer at the other end of the pool. The group of guys were all cheering something or the other and the moment between them is gone.

Percy frowns. "I wonder who they are, they're always over here," he says, glancing over to them, not realizing he had let the question slip.

"Go ask them," Annabeth says nudging him.

"What," he turns towards her, "no way!"

She shrugs and wades out of the pool to grab a beach ball they had brought. Percy's thoughts leave the group of guys and he focuses on pretending he didn't stare at her legs as she walked by.

Throwing it into the pool, she jumps in after it, landing a foot from Percy who has a ball in his hand.

"Are you ready?" he asks, a smile on his face.

"I played volleyball in high school," is her only response.

And with that he launches the ball into the air. They keep it up for a long time, until Annabeth finally spikes it so hard it drifts over to the other side of the pool.

She shrugs and throws him and innocent smile as he goes over to the groups of guys to get it.

"Hey this is yours right?" A black-haired Asian guy holds out his ball.

Percy nods and takes it. "Yeah, thanks."

He's about to wade away when another one of the group calls him back, a blonde haired one. "You a swimmer?"

Percy turns around confused. "I guess."

The black-haired guy, who had handed him his ball, nods. "We saw you swimming, you're really good."

Percy flushes at the unexpected praise. "Thanks."

"Do you go to the Prairie?"

Not sure why this information is necessary he nods.

"Then you should try out for the team, we could use talent like you."

Wordlessly, Percy nods again but a small smile makes it's way into his face.

The guy is still talking. "We have summer tryouts, check in around three weeks."

"Yeah, thank, I will."

And with a final wave to them he wades back to Annabeth with his ball. She's leaning against the edge of the pool wearing a smug satisfied smile on her face clearly indicating she had heard everything. She might have been right about talking to them, she might have been the one to get him recruited for the swim team, but he's more than willing to wipe the smugness off her face.

He likes the flushed one better anyway (even if it comes at the cost of his own face).

-.-

Percy's always had a hard time voicing his thoughts, his questions, so it's no surprise when he mumbles and stumbles over the most important one to date.

Annabeth's looking all too amused as he struggles to formulate any cohesive sentence and finally decides to take pity when she declares (with pink cheeks) that yes, she'll go on a date with him.

They plan for two nights before his swim team tryout, and after a nice dinner at Cali's he grabs her hand they jaywalk across the road to the dense trees.

There's already a few people there, drinking beer and listening to music and they spot one guy actually throwing away his can in the new and improved trashcan and sign built by Leo.

"It's working," Annabeth whispers to him, a smile on her face. Percy can't even begin to tell her all the things that are now working.

His heart, for one, as it thumps hard against his chest and his fingers curl around hers as they continue through The Woods.

They move past the rundown bench by the pond that has already been claimed by a couple and stop for a second to admire the wildflowers Grover had planted. They're surprisingly coming along much faster than the forever Percy had predicted so long ago.

Finally they come to a spot on the neat lawn by the twisted oak just out of view of the fixed blue fence where he spreads a picnic blanket and they sit, her between his legs leaning back onto his chest, and look up at the sky.

The sky has a decent scattering of stars and the warm weather seems to envelop them. Fireflies are twinkling across the lawn and Percy wonders when this place became so…much.

"This has been a great date Percy," Annabeth sighs, leaning against his chest.

"it's not over yet," he whispers into her ears and he can feel the goosebumps on her arms as he slides his hands down them.

"Still," she maintains stubbornly. "Every day we've spent together has been great."

"Yeah."

She sighs again and turns around to face him and another question pops up in his mind.

"Can I kiss you?" It slips out before he can help it and she smiles, leaning closer.

"You're getting better about not holding back," she says.

He shrugs. "How can I when I've got _you_ sitting in front of me?"

The way she leans in is answer enough and when he captures her lips in his the feeling that explodes across his chest leaves him breathless.

Of all the constants that have changed since her arrival Percy's the most glad that his bedroom door doesn't squeak, it makes it all the easier to sneak in even if the giggles might have given them away.

-.-

The last constant Annabeth changes before she leaves is the large stack of collegiate pamphlets on the corner of his desk.

There's only one now featuring the psychology department of the college that Annabeth's currently attending. If he busts his ass in community college, he can apply with a year and a half.

But the goal, he learns, isn't to get away, it's something to move towards.

"I'm glad you're happier with where you are, it's not so bad," Annabeth whispers against his lips as he leans back against the desk with the single pamphlet.

He kisses them and feels that pang, no longer unfamiliar that spreads happiness through his heart. He doesn't want her to go, he wants her to stay in his arms.

But even when she backs away, tears in both their eyes, he doesn't feel as empty as he thought he would.

And when he stands by Leo and Grover waving as she gets in the car with Cali and the tears return, Leo clasps him on the back and Grover pulls him into a half hug, he thinks that maybe he's more alright than he thought.

She texts him after her plane lands and they facetime later that night and he wishes he can kiss her good night.

"I'll call you tomorrow," she says through the screen, still reading the questions he doesn't ask.

He nods and blows her a kiss cause it's all he can do and she catches it before ending the call. He sits there moments after they've hung up and analyzes that pang.

Was it the pang of the lonely boy with too many questions?

And that's when he realizes that of all the questions Annabeth's answered, the most important one is the first.

He will not always be lonely, in fact, he doesn't think he'll ever be lonely again.

Love, he finds, is the absence of loneliness.

And he has all the love in the world, right here.

**Author's Note:**

> Well there you have it, what did you think? I wanted to focus on atmosphere and character growth and enough motifs to fill an English lecture so I really hope you guys enjoyed it!
> 
> Please comment! I'd love to hear your thoughts!  
> And as always, thanks for reading!  
> See ya! :)


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